Kelly in multi-culturalism plea

Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly signalled a break with Labour's commitment to multiculturalism, suggesting it may have led to isolated communities with no common bonds.

In the wake of last year's July 7 suicide bomb attacks in London, she said it was essential to start building greater cohesion between Britain's various ethnic and religious groupings and avoid creating further divisions between them.

Speaking at the launch of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, set up as part of the Government's response to the bombings, she called for an "honest debate" on how to best to bind communities together.

"We have moved from a period of uniform consensus on the value of multiculturalism, to one where we can encourage that debate by questioning whether it is encouraging separateness," she said.

"In our attempt to avoid imposing a single British identity and culture, have we ended up with some communities living in isolation of each other, with no common bonds between them?"

Ms Kelly warned that there could be no "special treatment" for minority ethnic or faith communities as it simply bred resentment and exacerbated divisions. There were "non-negotiable" rules which all communities "both new and established" had to accept, she said.

It was up to the "responsible majority" to marginalise those elements who sought to cause "conflict and tension" between communities. "That means everyone is involved," she said.

She echoed Home Secretary John Reid in insisting that it was not "racist" to discuss immigration and asylum issues and calling for a policy of "controlled" immigration.

While she said that Britain's ethnic and cultural diversity was a "huge asset", she specifically acknowledged that many white Britons were uncomfortable with the way society was changing. "Detached from the benefits of those changes, they begin to believe the stories about ethnic minorities getting special treatment, and to develop a resentment, a sense of grievance," she said.

Her speech drew a cool response from some Muslim groups. Ifath Nawaz, chairwoman of the Association of Muslim Lawyers and a member of the Government task force set up in the wake of the July 7 attacks, warned that it could be counter-productive. "We feel that this again marginalises Muslims rather than embraces the work that's being done," she told BBC Radio 4's World At One.